H.R. 2804, ALERT Act of 2014

Summary

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on February 11, 2014

H.R. 2804 would require federal agencies to provide to the public information regarding proposed and final regulations. The bill would require federal agencies to submit information for a monthly supplement to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (a semiannual compilation of the federal regulations under development). The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) would be required to post that information on the Internet on a monthly and annual basis. With certain exceptions, regulations would not be effective until six months after they have appeared in the proposed monthly report.

CBO estimates that preparing the monthly supplemental reports for 3,000 to 4,000 final regulations each year would cost less than a million dollars a year, subject to the availability of appropriated funds, over the 2014-2018 period. Because agencies routinely monitor the status of regulations that are being processed, this additional reporting requirement would not add a significant administrative burden. Based on information from the Congressional Research Service about the current regulatory process, CBO expects that the requirements in H.R. 2804 would not significantly delay the implementation of final regulations. The legislation could affect direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net increase in spending by those agencies would not be significant. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.

H.R. 2804 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.